This invention claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 10-241481, filed on Aug. 27, 1998, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lamp fixture. Specifically, the invention relates to a vehicle lamp fixture that utilizes a plurality of LEDs as light sources and that is placed at the rear portion of the vehicle as a rear combination lamp (tail light/brake light or high mount stop lamp, etc.) to provide warning, or otherwise communicate, etc. to other persons and especially to following vehicles.
2. Description of Related Art
Prior art versions of vehicle lamp fixtures are generally known, such as those shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional drawing of one example of a related art vehicle lamp fixture 90. FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional drawing of another example of a related art type vehicle lamp fixture 80.
Each of the vehicle lamp fixtures 80 or 90 has a lamp housing 81 or 91, respectively, that is formed as a container with a front aperture. This front aperture is covered by a lens 82 or 92 attached by appropriate means such as ultrasonic welding, adhesive gluing, etc. A plurality of LEDs 84 or 94 are arranged on a printed circuit board 83 or 93, respectively, at a specific spacing in a row or in a vertical-horizontal array.
As shown in FIG. 4, control facets 92a such as prism facets, fish-eye facets, semicylindrical facets, etc. are provided upon the interior surface of lens 92 for each respective LED 94 so as to form a grid of control facets 92a. Each control facet 92a is formed so that the center of the control facet 92a roughly coincides with the optical axis of a LED 94. Accordingly, the light beam emitted by each LED 94 is refracted along the LED 94 optical axis by control facet 92a so as to shine in the forward direction.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, a reflector 85 is provided that has a truncated rotating paraboloidal reflective surface 85b on the interior surface of the reflector 85. A LED through hole 85a is formed at the backside-apex portion corresponding to each LED 84. Each LED 84 passes through the LED through hole 85a and is mounted at the approximate focal point of reflective surface 85b. An array pattern of diffusion lens facets 82a is provided on the interior surface of lens 82. The light beam emitted directly forward by each LED 84 thereby illuminates the diffusion lens facet 82a of lens 82 and shines forward as an appropriately diffused beam. Light directed toward reflective surface 85b is reflected as collimated light nearly parallel with the optical axis of LED 84. This reflected light then illuminates diffusion facet 82a and shines forward as an appropriately diffused beam.
Related art LED light source vehicle light fixtures are typically equipped with a lens 92 or 82 that has an interior surface provided with a grid pattern of control facets 92a (prism facets, etc.) or diffusion lens facets 82a, respectively. The existence of such lens facets gives the impression that the lens is not clear so that the non-illuminated vehicle LED lamp fixture differs little in appearance from one which uses a normal incandescent bulb. This results in a problem to be solved: the sense of uniqueness of a LED light source is not apparent, and the related art vehicle lamp fixture appears to be a typical, uninteresting everyday lamp fixture.
As a specific solution to the problems in the related art, the invention provides a vehicle lamp fixture that includes a lamp fixture comprising a housing having a front portion with an aperture in said front portion, a lens located adjacent said aperture in said front portion of the housing, an LED placed at a predetermined location within the housing, and a reflector member formed as a single unit and including a truncated bowl-shaped portion located in front of said LED, said reflector member being formed from a transparent substance and including, a front surface with an aperture, a reflective surface that reflects light from the LED, and a light conductive portion that conducts at least a portion of light reflected by the reflective surface in a predetermined direction.